Island



S. W. YOUNG.

Eyelet Machine. h No.102,195. 3 Patented Apr" 19,- 1870.

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SOLOMON W. YOUNG, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENT, TO ELISHA DYER, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 102,195, dated 111191719, 1870.

IMPROVED MACHINE FOR FORMING- AND CUTTING- EYELETS AND FOR THE PREPAR-ATION OF STOCK FOR THE SAME.

- The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part ofthe same.

To all whom itma'y concern Be it known that I,- Sonoruon W. YOUNG, ofthe cityand county of lrovidence and State of Ithode Island, haveinvented acertain new and useful Machine for Forming and CuttingEyelets, and other similar articles, and in the preparation of metallicstock for'use therewith from sheet metal My invention consists in thenovel arrangement of a series of male and female dies, and in combiningtherewith certain novel feeding mechanism, resulting, as a whole, in amachine which is intended to perform, and does, in practice, accomplishthe complete forming of a perfect eyelet, or other similar-article, froma strip of sheet metal, and removes it therefrom without any necessityfor an intermediate annealing of the metal during the process- Myinvention further consists in preparing the strip of metal stock for usein the machine by re moving a portion of the edges of the strip, so asto leave the remainder-of thestock a series of disks or other desiredforms, sufficiently connected at two of their sides to maintain therequisite continuity in th strip.

For the sake of complete illustration, my invention is described inconnection with the manufacture of eyelets,.and I do herebydeclare thatthe following specifications, taken in connection with the drawingsfurnished and forming a part of the same, is a true description thereof,reference being had to the drawlugs.

Figure 1 represents, in perspective, one of my improved machines.

Figure 2 represents, in longitudinal vertical section, the platform ofthe machine, with feeding-devices more clearly shown.

In both figures respective parts are indicated by corresponding letters.

Figure 3 represents a strip of stock prepared by nicking its edges foruse in the machine.

It will be observed that four dies are arranged upon the main shaft, soas to produce a vertical reciprocating movement, allarranged to more atthe same speed and at the'same time.

No. 1 is the preliminary forming-die, which first operates upon themetallic strip, making an imperfect cup or blank, with itsupperedgeslightly flaring.

No. 2 is the die which completes the cup-form and the upper flaringedge, the drawing or swaging being divided between dies 1 and 2.

No. 3 is a cutting-die, arranged to cut away the bottom of the cup.

No. 4 is the clearing or cutting-die, which removes the finished eyeletfrom the strip. The cutting-edges of the die operate just outside of theupper flaring edge of the eyelet, which, thus finished, is forcedthrough the female die and delivered below.

Partially successful attempts have heretofore been made in theconstruction of an operative machinehaving a series of forming orswaging and cuttingdies, mounted in a common head, to which a strip ofsheet metal was fed by an intermittent movement. The respective dieswere placed closely adjacent to each other, so that .a single commonfeed-motion served for all the dies.

From the fact that sheet metal in a strip will not always drawuniformly, it is obvious that the respective dies should, be at suchdistances apart as would admit of such bending of the strip as wouldadmit of a surplus of longitudinal space to compensate for anyinequalities which might occur in the drawing.

- In consequence of this space between .the dies, and the inequalitiesliable inthe drawing, it is obviously essential that each die should beprovided with a separate feeding-device, adjustable relatively to it inorder' to secure the accurate delivery of the strip to the die.

A represents the first feeding-device, which delivcm the stock to thepreliminary forming-die No. 1. It consists of a horizontal carriagefitted to slides arranged on a line corresponding with the line of themale dies or plungers. v

In the bed of this carriage is a groove of a proper width and depth forreceiving the strip of metal stock from which the eyelets are to beformed.

In nearly all practicable eyelet-machines heretofore constructed, inwhich dies'have been arranged to more or less gradually" form eyeletsfrom a strip of sheet metal, it has been essential that the strip beannealed at some point between the dies.

This necessity has been partially obviated in my machine by having theforming or swaging commenced by die No.- 1' andcompleted by die No. 2,and partially by using a metal strip especially prepared for thepurpose, substantially as shown in the drawing, fig. 3.

The nicks or notches m the edges of the strip may be made of a shape asshown, or they may be (which is greatly preferable) ofa form which wouldleave a series of disks or planchets sufficiently united together byportion of .strip remaining between them to secure the advantages of thestrip form for feeding, and yet to possess the advantage of being in theplate of acircular form closely corresponding with thatof the finishedeyelet.

It is a well-known fact that a disk of sheet metal can be more readilyand perfectly swaged into a. cup-form than could possibly be the caseshould a 'liable to be cracked and warped out of the desired shape.

Bymaking the sheet metal-strip of stock to approximate as nearly aspossible to the form of disks,

and yet maintain connection between them, and retaining the advantagesof a continuous strip, the drawing or swaging is readily accomplishedwithout requiring any intermediate process of annealing.

On the side of this carriage is a horizontal-acting spring-pawl,arranged to engage with the nicks in the edge of the stock.

On the left end of the driving-shaft of the machine is' a cam, E, whichengages with the upper end of a spring lever, F, the lower end of which,by means of a pivoted joint, is attached to the end of a feed-bar, G,extending the whole length of the machine in hangers beneath theplatform.

To this bar G are attached longitudinally-adjustable dogs, H, whichengage with pins descending through slots in the platform from thecarriage A, and the other feeders to which said pins are attached. Bythelongitudinal movement of this feeding-bar to and fro the variouscarriages are operated.

B represents the second feeding-carriage. It delivers the stock, afterhaving been partially formed, to the die No. 2, by which the shaping ofthe eyelet is fully completed.

' This carriage is operated like the carriage A, already described. Itis provided with a slot in its bed, into and along which the projectionsalready formed in the stock are conducted.

. Itis also provided with a vertical-acting spring pawl, the finger ofwhich is arranged to engage with the cavities in the stock made by thefirst dies during the forward movement of the carriage. I

The necessity of this second feeding device B will be readilycomprehended when it is remembered that a strip of metal stock ofsufiicient length to make, for instance, ten eyelets, becomes shortened,by the action of the die No. 1, fully one-fifth of the original length.

0 represents .a third feeding-device, which delivers the strip to'dieNo. 3, by which the bot-tom of the cup is removed, thus completing thesmall end of the eyelet.

This feeder O is essentially like the last described, with the exceptionthat its forward end laps over onto the female-die plate, with its upperedge at sucha distance above the face of theplate as would be equal tothe depth of the eyelet-cup already formed in the strip.

This carriage has a, longitudinal groove in its bed, along which thestrip of metal is conducted to the dies, the edges of the stripextending over and resting upon the edges of the groove, while theeyeletcups are in the groove- Upon reaching the die the cup is thus heldin a vertical position while the cutting is being effeoted, and securesuniform and desirable iesults.

The necessity of having a separate feeding-device with die No. 3 will beat once apparent upon consideration of the fact that by way ofillustration the same length of strip' containing twenty-twopartlyformed eyelet-cups, as passed through dies No. 1, contains buttwenty-one cups as shaped bythe dies No. 2.

While it is true that these several feeding-devices are operatedsubstantially by the same movement, and at the same time, and to thesame extent of travel, it is to be remembered that the arrangement ofthe spring pawl to engage with the forward insideedge of the secondeyelet-cup, next before the one being operated upon by'the die, is ofsuch a character as will admit of some slight variations, as, forexample, it might engage with the top edge in one instance, and thebottom of the cup in another. In each case the forward movement would bejust as positive.

There is still another advantage in this combination of a feeding devicewith each and every die. If, per-chance, a flaw be in the strip ofmetal, and between the dies the strip should separate, the work couldcontinue for a while, at least, without danger of clogging up andbreaking the machine.

D represents'a fourth feeding device, substantially the same as the onealready described as feeder B. This feeder delivers the strip to die No. 4, by which the completed eyelet is removed from the strip.

Beneath the forming-plungers which operate with feeders A and B, arevertical spring-lifters L, which, working within the female dies, serveas clearers to drive the partially-formed stock upward free from thedie, and thus admit of its advancement.

On three of the male dies or plungers are holdingfingers K, arranged toengage with the inside edge of the eyelet-cup in the strip nextpreceding the cup, being operated upon by the dies. It serves to holdthe strip against any possible backward movement as the carriages returnto take a fresh feed.

The operation of my machine is as follows:

The variations in the cam E having been arranged with proper relation tothe main shaft, and spring lever 13, so that whenthe plungers or maledies shall be at their lowest point of descent, thefeed-bar G shall bequickly moved to the left, and also so arranged that during the upwardand downward movement of the plnngers the feed-bar 'G shall move to theright or toward the dies, the machine is readyfor operation.

The metal strip having been properly nicked, is delivered to feeder A,which, by engaging by its pawl with the nicks, conveys it forward by anintermittent movementto'the die No. 1.

The spring punch L lifts the partially -formed blank up out'of the die,and admits of the strip being set forward, nick by nick, until itarrives at feeder B, which delivers it to the die No. 2, where theforming is completed; thence to the feeder O and the dieNo. 3, andfinally to the feeder D and cuttingdie N0. 4, which removes the finishedarticle from the strip.

In preparing the machine for operation, care should be taken to have agreater length of strip between the several dies than the actualdistance between them to compensate from time to time for the slightirregularities which are liable to occur in the swaging, as beforeexplained.

Having thus described my invention,

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. Thecombination of the swaging-Vdies Nos. 1 and 2, the feed-carriages A andB, and the clearinglifters L, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a series of dies anda series offeeding-devices, arranged substantially as herein described, of the camE, spring lever F, feedbar G, and adjustable dogs H, substantially asshown and described.

3. In combination with the die N o. 3, for removing the bottom of theblank, the feed-carriage O, fitted to slide upon the face of the femaledie, pro-' vided with a longitudinal groove, and arranged so as todeliver the blanks in the strip of metal to the cutting-die in avertical position, substantially as shown and described.

4. The improved machine for making eyeletsand other similar articlesfrom sheet metal, embracing,

essentially, the swaging-dies Nos. 1 and 2, the cut-- ting-dies Nos. 3and 4, the feed-carriages A, B, C, and D, the lift;ers L,' and fingersK, combined and operating substantially as shown and described.

5. The improvement in the preparation of sheet metal stock for themanufacture of eyelets or other similar articles, which consists incutting away portions of the metal from the edges of the ribbon or stripat regular intervals corresponding to the length of stock required foreach eyelet or other similar article, thus forming a strip ofpartly-formed p'lanchets or blanks, substantially as shown anddescribed. SOLOMON WV. YOUNG. Witnesses CHARLES SELDEN,

JOHN G. Punxrs.

